Notice to our Guests
St. Mary’s is resurfacing the main parking lot and there will be no access to the front of the building (including the library) from July 19 – August 20th. Follow the signs to the temporary main entrance at the Center for Continuing Formation. This will be the entrance for all students, visitors, library patrons and those working in the Associated Archives. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Another St. Mary's Alumnus Named Bishop
On Saturday May 29th, St. Mary’s alumnus Father Charles Kasonde (STL, 2008) was installed as the Bishop of the Diocese of Solwezi in Zambia by the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Nicolas Girasoli. It was a joyous celebration at the Cathedral of St. Daniel with most of the bishops of Zambia participating in the Mass which was filled with music and dancing. After the ceremony, the newly installed bishop spent three hours greeting the many people who attended.
Erected as an Apostolic Prefecture in 1959, Solwezi was then established as a diocese in 1976. The diocese covers 35,000 square miles and serves 70,000 Catholics. There are 20 parishes with 30 priests and 80 religious men and women serving in the diocese.
Bishop Kasonde is one of six Zambian priests who have completed their STL at St. Mary’s in the last few years. It is a privilege for St. Mary’s to assist the Church of Zambia where the Sulpicians have ministered for over twenty years. The young Zambian priests who live with us for two years while doing further graduate work enrich our community by their seriousness of purpose and dedication to priestly ministry. We are now proud to have another bishop alumnus from this historic seminary. We keep Bishop Charles and his diocese in our prayers.
St. Mary's Alumnus Named Bishop
On Saturday, May 22, our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI named Fr. F. Richard Spencer (SMSU ’87) as Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, assigning him the titular see of Auzia.
Bishop-Elect Spencer was born in Sylacauga, AL, in 1951. Prior to entering seminary, he served in the United States Army and earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Jacksonville State University, and a Master’s in Education in Administration from the University of Wisconsin. He earned his Master of Divinity and Bachelor of Sacred Theology from St. Mary’s in 1987.
After priestly ordination for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 1988, he served as Parochial Vicar at Sacred Heart Parish, Glyndon; co-director and then director at Msgr. O’Dwyer Retreat House in Sparks; and Administrator of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Oakland. He returned to active military duty in 1999, serving in South Korea, the Sinai Desert, Iraq, and at the Pentagon Office of Army Chief Chaplains, as well as specialized studies at the General Staff College in Leavenworth, KS. Since 2009 he is Deputy Command Chaplain for the United States Army in Europe.
Lectors and Acolytes
On Thursday, February 4, 2010, thirteen seminarians from the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Dioceses of Camden, Greensburg, Portland, Richmond, Syracuse, Trenton, and Wilmington were installed in the Ministry of Lector. Twenty-one seminarians from the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Dioceses of Albany, Camden, Manchester, Paterson, Syracuse, Trenton, and Wilmington were installed in the Ministry of Acolyte. Bishop John M. Smith of the Diocese of Trenton and a member of the Board of St. Mary’s Seminary & University presided. He was joined by Bishop Jean-Yves Riocreux (SMSU ‘75) of the Diocese of Pontoise, France, and a former Rector of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, who was visiting his alma mater.
St. Mary’s Seminarians March for Life
Organized by Mr. Christopher DeLeon, a pre-theologian of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and chair of the seminary Right to Life subcommittee, St. Mary’s Seminary & University participated in activities associated with the Right to Life March on January 22.
On Thursday evening a group of seminarians joined Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the Chair of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops Pro-Life Committee and an estimated 18,000 others in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for a Vigil Mass. St. Mary’s seminarians also participated in the all-night Eucharistic Adoration for Life at the National Shrine, assuming responsibility for the 2-3 AM time slot.
On Friday morning other seminarians and faculty departed shortly before 6 AM on a chartered bus, using the travel time for prayer and reflection. They joined 20,000 other young people for a morning Youth Rally for Life at Washington’s Verizon Center, and then joined 150,000 marchers at the Washington Monument. The final destination, the United States Supreme Court building, was the sight of the seminary community gathered in prayer for an end to abortion in our land and the protection of the right to life of all people.
